Hebridean Painting & Wildlife Cruise 2025

Small cruise ship painting experience visiting Mull, Iona, Coll, Lunga, Oronsay,  Jura, and more

Dates: 28 June – 5 July 2025 Cancelled
Tutor: Nicky Sanderson
Activity: Drawing & painting (watercolour & mixed media); Wildlife watching
Departure & destination port: Oban
Locations: Isles of Mull, Iona, Coll, Lunga,  Colonsay/Oronsay, Jura; Sound of Jura; Kintyre; Seil Island

This art cruise combines a daily plein air drawing and painting workshop with spotting and learning about the rich wildlife in the Hebridean isles. It’s a unique adventure and like a creative nature retreat on a boat! Departing from Oban, where we meet for a welcome lunch, we sail along the Isle of Mull to Iona. From there the planned route takes us past Staffa to the isles of Coll, Oronsay and Jura, before sailing back north along the Kintyre peninsula, the Gulf of Corryvreckan and Seil Island.  

We’ve designed this exclusive itinerary to offer a variety of stunning land and seascapes, plus architecture and history – all to inspire you! Capture the wild beauty of the Hebridean seascapes with your paints and guidance from artist Nicky Sanderson, whilst learning about the island locations, their history and their wildlife from the knowledgeable crew. If wild swimming is your thing you’ll get plenty of opportunities to live your passion!

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“A fantastic adventure with Ute and Nicky and great skipper and crew. We have seen puffins, otters sea eagles and deer. Been inspired by Nicky to paint, draw and make. A very special holiday, with like minded people from around the globe. Being at sea requires a flexible and open mind, as you are at the mercy of the elements. ” {Geraldine, England, Hebridean painting cruise Jun/Jul 2024}

See our photos and read some guest reviews from the 2024 trip on the Feedback & Pics page.

Immerse yourself

This cruise will be a catalogue of iconic species to spot and observe! Wildlife in the summer can be a nice crossover of the whale and dolphin species, plus white-tailed sea eagles, maybe golden eagles, puffins and all the other Scottish seabirds. With a chance of also seeing otters and seals we will be kept busy admiring them all and every day will take us through different island landscapes.

Our crew are very familiar with the locations we visit and happy to share their knowledge with you!

Art inspired by stunning surroundings

This adventure is created for artists by artists. We will go ashore and explore islands and beaches, with plenty of opportunities to get painting boards and sketchbooks out and spend a bit longer at at least one location each day for creating artwork. You’ll get a wealth of ideas and techniques to enhance your creative work with guidance from our art tutor Nicky Sanderson, who also leads the Sense of Place art experience in the Outer Hebrides. Check out her profile page here.

You will feel a connection to nature as you explore these seascapes and ancient landscapes, still sculpted today by wind and rain and human hand. Each day will have a different theme and artistic focus. Your sketchbook will form a record of the sights you see and by the end of the trip will contain a wealth of inspirations tucked away inside. Drawing with mixed media, using graphite, charcoal and ink, along with quick washes of colour from your paints will provide the basis of your work. You will have the opportunity to experiment with using the local environment as your tool – have you tried painting the sea with seawater or making brushes out of washed up rope, feathers or seaweed?

We will provide an easily portable set of art materials, as well equipment such as painting boards, water containers, masking tape and a sturdy canvas bag for carrying materials.

Itinerary

Below is the prospective itinerary we’ve designed for you – weather and tide conditions allowing:

Day 1 – Arrival and welcome
We meet at a restaurant in Oban, the town where the cruise departs and finishes. Over a welcome lunch and drinks we’ll give an introduction to the upcoming trip before heading to the harbour and our boat, the Hjalmar Bjørge. The adventure begins! We’ll steam to up the Sound of Mull and berth for the night at Loch Aline.

Day 2 – Isle of Coll 

Day 3 – Lunga island (puffins!) / Ulva

Day 4 – Iona (passing the cliffs and cave of Staffa) 

Day 5 – Colonsay/ Oronsay 

Day 6 – Kintyre (passing Jura) 

Day 7 – Loch Spelve on Mull via Seil island

Day 8 – Back to Oban

We’ll head back to Oban after breakfast (10.30ish) so you still have time left for onward travel. You’ll leave with a sketchbook full of ideas and notes, and a heart full of memories.

Please note: This itinerary can only be provisional as it will depend on the wind and tide conditions on the day what is do-able. Everyone’s safety is top priority and the skipper and his crew will aim to stick to the plan as closely as possible within the weather conditions.

Our boat, the MV Hjalmar Bjørge

The MV Hjalmar Bjørge (the correct Norwegian pronunciation is ”YAL-MUH B’YOR-GAY”) is a former Norwegian ice-class rescue vessel. Since undergoing an extensive refurbishment this outstanding small ship combines comfort with seaworthiness for adventurous sea voyages to explore the Scottish islands and coast. It is large enough to contain passenger cabins and a saloon, but small enough to drop anchor in extra special, beautiful locations that passengers on larger cruise ships can only dream about. The crew are very knowledgeable about wildlife and local history, and keen to share their knowledge with you.

The MV Hjalmar Bjørge sleeps 10 guests in 5 twin cabins. Each cabin has a hand washbasin, but toilets (3) and shower rooms (2) have to be shared with other guests. Because of the small number of cabins we’re unable to offer single occupancy on this trip. There is also a drying room and we’ll use the saloon, which is also our dining space, as our indoor studio space.

It is important to keep in mind that on this cruise the luxury lies in the experience – the breathtaking views, the art tuition, the exclusive itinerary, the unique and authentic adventure – rather than shiny premiums cabins.

“A wonderful experience combining painting, wildlife watching and living on a small ship.  Took me into another world for a week where I developed my painting style.  Very helpful and knowledgeable tutor and crew including a first class cook.” {Stewart, Glasgow}

Prices & other info

The price for this 8-day fully-catered cruise experience is GBP 3520 per person. This includes:

• 8 days (7 nights) accommodation on board the MV Hjalmar Bjørge (sharing twin cabin – 2 berths)
• 6 days art tuition
• All meals and snacks on freshly prepared by the on-board chef
• Welcome drinks and lunch in Oban on arrival
• Services of your crew
• Exclusive artist-friendly itinerary
• Art materials and equipment (painting boards, water containers etc.), sketchbook journal
• Detailed pre-travel information with everything you need to know and bring).

The cruise experience starts and finishes in Oban on the Scottish West Coast.

The easiest way to get to Oban is by train from Glasgow Queen Street station and the journey takes around 3 hours. We’ll be happy to advise you on travel connections and accommodation before and/or after the cruise, e.g. if you want to arrive in Oban a day earlier. You can use our Getting There page as a starting point to plan your journey.

A non-refundable deposit of £600 secures your space and the balance is due 10 weeks before the start date. Personal travel insurance is required. Flights and travel to/from the departure and arrival location (Oban) are not included, nor are alcoholic drinks (other than the welcome drinks) nor gratuities.

Please note that a certain level of mobility is required to take part in this cruise. You should be able to climb in and out of a small boat and sometimes manage uneven footings when going ashore.

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